Apparently, Turkey had something to do with it.
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From my extremely limited knowledge of electronics I'd say that in order for the integration to happen two OEMS - SAAB & Chengdu would have had to exchange source codes or pass them on to this Turkish firm undertaking the integration.
Who in your opinion would have shared their source codes with this Turkish firm or with PAF ? Chengdu or SAAB or both & if so what do you think were their motivations for doing so ?
The Link 16 is standard DTL used by NATO & ALLIED forces like Sweden . Do you think Sweden would countenance sharing of such information by SAAB much less the rest of NATO especially the US ?
OTOH from China's PoV Chengdu would have to share their source codes with Turkey a bonafide NATO member ? Do you think it's possible ?
The only way this could've happened is jury rigging the Link 17 which that *censored* site Quwa (whom most indians mistake for a genuine source given the retarded stuff each & every Paxtani analcyst indulges in which in turn makes someone slightly honest look credible forgetting that the bar itself is so damn low to begin with ) attested to being a Paxtani developed one if you can believe such a thing.
This still doesn't answer the question whether this has resulted in changing the entire communication suite of the Erieye for I don't see it working otherwise which in turn would render the LC guarantees if any issued by SAAB to PAF null & void.
Alternatively the Turkish firm shared the source code of this Link 17 with the Chinese. Then again how sophisticated this Link 17 itself is , would be another topic of discussion. And if that's the case it still means Link 16 is off bounds .
Even so , this jugaad ( for that's the only term I can think of to describe this arrangement ) must be extremely limited in its scope & thus performance.
Furthermore India still lacks access to the Link 16 if I'm not mistaken & we've signed all those pacts with the US like COMCASA , BECA etc for interoperability. Came across news earlier we were seeking some sort of via media between Vayu Link & Link 16 to ensure interoperability . No clue how far have things proceeded in that direction.